The thermo-dielectric effect is the production of electric currents and charge separation during phase transition.
The Brazilian physicist observed that solidification and melting of many dielectrics are accompanied by charge separation.
A thermo-dielectric effect was demonstrated with carnauba wax, naphthalene and paraffin.
Effect was measured by many researches - Bernhard Gross, Armando Dias Tavares, Sergio Mascarenhas etc.
César Lattes (co-discoverer of the pion) supposed that this was the only effect ever to be discovered entirely in Brazil.